最新杏吧原创

鈥淭hat One Guy鈥� you recognize from the past three decades of Cardinals games at two different Busch stadiums will get to attend a few more events there as just another guy.

Todd Thomas, the in-game host at Busch Stadium who has 鈥淭hat One Guy鈥� across the shoulders of his jerseys, announced on social media Friday his plans to leave his everyday emcee role at the ballpark at the end of this season. He will continue to be involved in big events at Busch, including opening day, but he's stepping back from an 81-game schedule.

What Thomas Saggese was able to shed at Class AAA Memphis after his experience in the majors as a part-time player, like so many players before him, was the feeling he had to cram a game鈥檚 worth of production into one swing, a week鈥檚 worth of adjustments into one at-bat.

Fewer at-bats didn鈥檛 mean he had to do more in them.

Fresh off his first win in the majors, Cardinals lefty Quinn Mathews tugged on a game-red Cardinals cap before facing the media late Friday night. That made it difficult to spot any leftover condiments stowed away in his hair from a celebratory dousing.

That did not stop him from sniffing them.

The Cardinals鈥� starting pitching depth certainly isn鈥檛 at the lows of recent past seasons, but that doesn鈥檛 mean they鈥檝e got some abundance of riches in that regard. If there was even a question, then this past week did its part to eliminate any doubts.

Two injuries to starters and an organization-imposed innings limit on another seemingly crippled the major league staff in a way that at least temporarily took the wind out of the pursuit of a wild-card playoff berth.

Rookie Quinn Mathews earned his first big-league win Friday night in his first Busch Stadium start as the Cardinals took the series-opener from the Pirates.

Here's what Mathews, manager Oliver Marmol as well catcher Jimmy Crooks had to say afterwards.

In his first start at Busch Stadium, rookie Quinn Mathews set a cool, crisp, and methodically ruthless pace that the Cardinals matched for a clinical dissection of an opponent that appeared to be none of those things.

Mathews earned his first major-league victory in the Cardinals鈥� 4-1 win Friday night against the porous Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium. Mathews struck out seven, pitched a career-high 5 2/3 innings, and held the Bucs to a single run on five hits. The Cardinals never trailed after Jimmy Crooks鈥� two-run homer in the second gave them an early lead.

A day after Blaze Jordan left the game with an ankle injury, the Cardinals put the rookie third baseman on the 10-day injured list with a left ankle sprain and recalled infielder Thomas Saggese from Triple-A Memphis.

The Cardinals and Pirates open a three-game weekend series Friday night at 7:15 p.m. The Cardinals salvaged Thursday's finale vs. Baltimore with a 7-5 bullpen game win.